Locate or create examples of two or more means of engagement that are barrier free.
Pick two tools. Propose a way to integrate technology into your teaching, regardless of whether you teach face-to-face or blended or online. Specific instructions are here.
When adding your ideas to the wiki, remember to include your name so you get credit.
* I hope I am putting this in the right spot. www.edmodo.com I was recently introduced to edmodo and frankly I don't know that much about it yet. I know students can have discussions online that are about a topic of their teacher's choosing and the teacher can monitor it. Teachers can also create their own groups. You can share lesson plans, etc. It looks interesting. My son was able to have a discussion with his class at home while his teacher was able to monitor everything. - Sandy
Ipads in the classroom for many reasons, but especially because you do get to move your fingers around on it and the kids generally seem engaged. The only difficulty I have seen with these is for visually impaired kids - you can make the print bigger, but it causes only parts of the page to be seen. This can get frustrating for some kids. - Sandy
Read Naturally and Moby Max are both online tutoring programs that include engagement activities. Moby Max even includes awards kids can earn as well as minutes of game time (earned) depending on how much work they accomplish. These are individualized and while that is good, it is also difficult to incorporate into the whole class. Plus, Moby Max doesn't always go down to a low enough level of academics for some of my CD students. - Sandy
I found two tools very specific to my content area - olioboard.com and floorplanner.com. Olioboard allows students to pick a room background and then furnish the space with a wide variety of home furnishings. There are basic furnishings but you also go to brand names and furnish a room with all items from Crate and Barrel. I found this web site two weeks ago so I've actually using it for an assignment so I will see how the students like it. Floorplanner is similar to a program I've used - homestyler. It is a little more user friendly with a drop down box that allows you to rotate items, remove, etc. but doesn't have as many options for furnishings. I might use this with project that focuses more on floor plans and traffic patterns. I want to use a variety of programs so students know they have options if they opt to use the programs in a course. Diane in Menomonie
On Thanksgiving, my niece was at her computer playing around with a leap motion controller- leapmotion.com She was waving her fingers/hands in front of the computer screen to activate a computer game she is helping design for a class she is taking. Needless to say I was intrigued. Of course I am looking at how some of my students who cannot access a computer or screen in a standard way could possibly use this. It is a portable device that plugs into your computer. Your hands must be within a certain radius of the device. The small device tracks hand and finger movement. Is anyone familiar with this? I believe it is mostly used for gaming but there are apps that do things such as free form gesture controlled 3D sculpting! Carole
An ipad app that the students really like for handwriting practice is Writing Wizard It is very motivating as it has sound, visual cues for proper formation as well as fun graphics that are interactive. The app has the ability to track a students progress. Along with tracing practice for upper and lowercase letters and numbers, there are shapes, lines and designs. There is also the ability to create word banks. I use this with students for extra practice and review of formation. This is also a way to allow students who have difficulty coordinating holding onto a writing implement to have success. Student can either use a finger or stylus to trace on the iPad screen. Carole
My cousin is currently doing Teach for America in Baltimore City-- and so we had a great time discussing his trials and tribulations over Thanksgiving. As we traded tips, he shared how much he likes Flocabulary.It basically offers videos with educational songs for grades K-12. It has the engagement factor of optimizing relevance (Checkpoint 7.2)-- in that kids see vocabulary words in context in an entertaining way. Challenges: it costs to have a subscription per classroom-- so there is a financial barrier for teachers there. I would argue that kids who have visual deficits still benefit from the songs and that kids who cannot hear can use the interactive lyrics tab.-- Buffy
I can't also help but mention Google Docs, which I have seen work so well in terms of fostering collaboration in the classroom (Checkpoint 8.3). Students often get the choice whether to write and talk together on a shared doc or work solo-- but this allows them to fill in charts together, discuss where it's safe and not as public, and automatically have work saved.-- Buffy
I purchased an app last week in the hopes it would help me create interactive worksheets. The app is called Custom Boards. I really don't know yet how to use it well, but you can see some pretty neat information here: http://smartyearsapps.com/service/custom-boards/ I can see how it easily could be really useful for younger elementary class rooms where students cannot yet read, or have limited reading skills. It might also work well for a non-verbal setting. I hope to learn how to make it work for me soon! - Erinn
My kids have always enjoyed using TimezAttack by Big Brainzhttp://www.bigbrainz.com/ to practice math facts. They have recently added addition and subtraction to the line up, so now you can select Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, or Division. For your student(s), you can track progress with pre-tests, progress, and post test reporting. http://www.bigbrainz.com/Support.php#Reports -Erinn
http://www.rulergame.net/ This is a neat way for students to check their understanding of being able to read a ruler. Because it has a timer function it has enough challenge that it even works for students who have "mastered" the skill. Unfortunately it's not truly UDl friendly as there is no sound, and there is no adaptations for visually impaired students--Mike
*
Tool-Penzu free, Penzu Pro paid version. http://penzu.com/classroom In addition to using Penzu as a self-assessment tool, Penzu has many other functions such as the ability to create and manage journal entries, grade and tag entries, and share with class, manage students, make comments on submitted entries, create and send assignments with due dates etc. What it does lack is the use of audio which I perceive as a barrier. However, I would include an audio tool (online voice recorder) Vocaroo http://vocaroo.com/ as a choice for creating a self-assessment record and feedback. Vocaroo is simple to use( no bells and whistles) and does not require down loading.Marilyn @ Long Island, New York
DCMP is a site that offers educational videos to use in a classroom setting. These videos can be listened to in English and Spanish. The videos can be played using closed captioning, or the video can be described to students. This type of media accommodates a variety of students. E-readers are another useful device. They allow the user to change the font size and use back lighting for an easier reading experience. Readers also have access to a dictionary. Sometimes when reading a physical book it is easy to skip over words because a dictionary is not easily accessible. E-readers also can read speech aloud. This not only helps those who struggle with reading but also can help teach reading. -Mac Patrick
VoiceThread is a way to create and share material (text, images, video) and elicit responses from students in a nearly barrier free manner. Students may produce or respond to material in text, video or audio form which offers a lot of options to the way students can become engaged. Sadly, it is not free, but a site license is under $100 a year for a single instructor and students. I am eager to examine the possibilities of how I can adopt it for use in the coming semester. I think it would be a great way to have students collaborate and present on topics while being able to receive feedback. -Keith @St. Louis
Scriblink is a free (yeah!) whiteboard app that does not need to be downloaded, but has the ability to allow multiple users to share ideas at the same time. A URL of the board can be generated so that the content can be shared. The board can be saved, printed or sent as well. Images can be uploaded to the board and marked on with the various tools. Some key features that this free whiteboard has that others like it do not include the ability to alter the size and color of the font, marker and pen tools for the board. These options make its use less of a barrier to certain individuals. The site provides a phone number that allows users to take part in a conference call while using board. I have not tried this feature, but it seems that this feature allows for yet a few more barriers to be removed for users. I could see this site being useful for engaging students in group work and offering feedback to students. -Keith
Glogster is a good engagement tool for students. They can acquire the skills to be creators and collaborators. They can create timelines and virtual posters combining text, photos and/or images, audio, video, and writing to explain their thinking, research, etc. VirtEd is a webpage that provides information that complement the curriculum taught in the traditional educational setting for all students, regardless of disability, geographical location, socioeconomic status, etc.
- Giovanna
Padlet helps students create visually appealing "walls" that allow collaboration, sharing, embedding audio, video and text. I like the example for making a mural, because it highlights a possibility for students teaching others, or demonstrating a step by step process.
~Kim
Remind is a way for teachers to text message students and parents (as a group) without either party seeing actual phone numbers. I haven't used it, but seems like it could help with goal setting, staying on schedule, etc. Students and parents can receive the message by phone or email. Voice clips and images can also be sent. Those that receive the text messages can't reply but they can send feedback that the teacher sees.
~Kim
The tools that I am considering utilizing for engaging my students are Google Hangouts which is a chat feature that allows students to video chat and type. The problem with this is that it does not have closed captioning but students could type what they are saying aloud. This would meet checkpoint 8.3 to assist in fostering collaboration and communication among students. I would like to observe the communication but I also wonder if I was not present would they be more willing to participate? The other tool that I would look at for engagement would be to utilize twiddla. Twiddla is a free whiteboard that allows students to share in real time files, annotations, and chats. Students can write, draw, or use different shapes to communicate with each other. I did not find information on video recording so that would be one feature that might not make the tool barrier free. - Jehana K.
I added this earlier in the week, but it appears that it was accidentally deleted.
I have a couple of free technologies that can help with game-based learning. The first is an example of unabashed self-promotion. My team at Fox Valley Technical College is responsible for the OER Wisc-Online. We have an updated feature called GameBuilder that allows any one to create an account and start building assessment-based games. https://www.wisc-online.com/gamebuilder
The other is something created by a group housed at UW Madison. The folks at the Games for Learning Society created the ARIS game system. This one is very cool, provided the students have access to a smart phone. In a nutshell, it allows people to load in multimedia files associated with a GPS location. Students can then walk to that location, pull up a phone and access the audio, video, photos, etc. The demo I saw asked students to role-play as a reporter. They were asked to travel to locations around the Capital Building where historical events during a union demonstration. The students would be able to pull up newspaper photos and other files to help them recreate the story. https://arisgames.org/
- Jay
I used the Raz-Kids website (http://www.raz-kids.com/) for my students to improve their reading ability. This program offers labeled books for the students to read, to be read to or even to record themselves reading. After each book read, students will have the opportunity to interact with the program by participating in questions about the reading and to take short quizzes.
This is a wonderful tool for primary and intermediate students to improve their reading and comprehension abilities, based on their own level of reading to move on to the next level. There are labeled books for the students to choose. It is an interactive reading program; students read the books based on their levels. After they read a selection of books from their level, students take a reading comprehension assessment. Lots of visuals are part of this program for students to increase their comprehension. The program reads to the students, or the students read by pointing to each word to help second language learners with pronunciation and increasing their vocabulary. This program also offers the books in Spanish and English. Students become conscious of their own reading levels, and they are very motivated with their reading progress. Students can listen and record themselves reading.
Patricia
I use the Math online program “That Quiz” (http://www.thatquiz.org/tq/docs/about.html) for assessing my students, replacing paper and pencils. It is free for teachers, and my students really enjoyed playing and learning. It is a site for students to practice math skills and take assessments as well. It gives us information on students’ progress as well as classroom progress.
This site is used for students all over the world at their home and in school. Registration is free, and teachers receive complete record-keeping of students’ grades. There are many different skills that our students can practice using this site, like integers, fractions, concepts and Geometry. This program is available in many languages to accommodate our second language students. The site also gives us the number of times that students practiced the skill, indicates the levels of the students, determines their ability to work independently, and includes a timer and an ability to provide feedback.
Patricia
Devin Monson - One thing we use for our athletes is we have multiple means of allowing them to communicate amongst each other. The first is using Facebook. We create private groups for each of our training programs and have everyone in the groups join. Why fight what is so popular amongst people, embrace it. Facebook is very easy to use and allows for tons of ways for people to communicate be it publicly, in the group, or privately amongst two people.
Devin Monson - The other way we get our athletes all the information they need at their finger tips is with our website. When they sign up, we create an account for them that they can log into at roguerunning.com. Here they have access to every email their coach has and will ever send out. They can also look at the training past, present and future so that they may plan out their weeks/months worth of running. We also save all out files for them on here so that they may look back and see anything we have taught them during the program.
- Locate or create examples of two or more means of engagement that are barrier free.
Pick two tools. Propose a way to integrate technology into your teaching, regardless of whether you teach face-to-face or blended or online. Specific instructions are here.When adding your ideas to the wiki, remember to include your name so you get credit.
*
I hope I am putting this in the right spot.
www.edmodo.com I was recently introduced to edmodo and frankly I don't know that much about it yet. I know students can have discussions online that are about a topic of their teacher's choosing and the teacher can monitor it. Teachers can also create their own groups. You can share lesson plans, etc. It looks interesting. My son was able to have a discussion with his class at home while his teacher was able to monitor everything. - Sandy
Ipads in the classroom for many reasons, but especially because you do get to move your fingers around on it and the kids generally seem engaged. The only difficulty I have seen with these is for visually impaired kids - you can make the print bigger, but it causes only parts of the page to be seen. This can get frustrating for some kids. - Sandy
Read Naturally and Moby Max are both online tutoring programs that include engagement activities. Moby Max even includes awards kids can earn as well as minutes of game time (earned) depending on how much work they accomplish. These are individualized and while that is good, it is also difficult to incorporate into the whole class. Plus, Moby Max doesn't always go down to a low enough level of academics for some of my CD students. - Sandy
I found two tools very specific to my content area - olioboard.com and floorplanner.com. Olioboard allows students to pick a room background and then furnish the space with a wide variety of home furnishings. There are basic furnishings but you also go to brand names and furnish a room with all items from Crate and Barrel. I found this web site two weeks ago so I've actually using it for an assignment so I will see how the students like it. Floorplanner is similar to a program I've used - homestyler. It is a little more user friendly with a drop down box that allows you to rotate items, remove, etc. but doesn't have as many options for furnishings. I might use this with project that focuses more on floor plans and traffic patterns. I want to use a variety of programs so students know they have options if they opt to use the programs in a course. Diane in Menomonie
On Thanksgiving, my niece was at her computer playing around with a leap motion controller- leapmotion.com She was waving her fingers/hands in front of the computer screen to activate a computer game she is helping design for a class she is taking. Needless to say I was intrigued. Of course I am looking at how some of my students who cannot access a computer or screen in a standard way could possibly use this. It is a portable device that plugs into your computer. Your hands must be within a certain radius of the device. The small device tracks hand and finger movement. Is anyone familiar with this? I believe it is mostly used for gaming but there are apps that do things such as free form gesture controlled 3D sculpting! Carole
An ipad app that the students really like for handwriting practice is Writing Wizard It is very motivating as it has sound, visual cues for proper formation as well as fun graphics that are interactive. The app has the ability to track a students progress. Along with tracing practice for upper and lowercase letters and numbers, there are shapes, lines and designs. There is also the ability to create word banks. I use this with students for extra practice and review of formation. This is also a way to allow students who have difficulty coordinating holding onto a writing implement to have success. Student can either use a finger or stylus to trace on the iPad screen. Carole
My cousin is currently doing Teach for America in Baltimore City-- and so we had a great time discussing his trials and tribulations over Thanksgiving. As we traded tips, he shared how much he likes Flocabulary.It basically offers videos with educational songs for grades K-12. It has the engagement factor of optimizing relevance (Checkpoint 7.2)-- in that kids see vocabulary words in context in an entertaining way. Challenges: it costs to have a subscription per classroom-- so there is a financial barrier for teachers there. I would argue that kids who have visual deficits still benefit from the songs and that kids who cannot hear can use the interactive lyrics tab.-- Buffy
I can't also help but mention Google Docs, which I have seen work so well in terms of fostering collaboration in the classroom (Checkpoint 8.3). Students often get the choice whether to write and talk together on a shared doc or work solo-- but this allows them to fill in charts together, discuss where it's safe and not as public, and automatically have work saved.-- Buffy
I purchased an app last week in the hopes it would help me create interactive worksheets. The app is called Custom Boards. I really don't know yet how to use it well, but you can see some pretty neat information here:
http://smartyearsapps.com/service/custom-boards/
I can see how it easily could be really useful for younger elementary class rooms where students cannot yet read, or have limited reading skills. It might also work well for a non-verbal setting. I hope to learn how to make it work for me soon!
- Erinn
My kids have always enjoyed using TimezAttack by Big Brainzhttp://www.bigbrainz.com/
to practice math facts. They have recently added addition and subtraction to the line up, so now you can select Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, or Division. For your student(s), you can track progress with pre-tests, progress, and post test reporting. http://www.bigbrainz.com/Support.php#Reports
-Erinn
http://www.rulergame.net/ This is a neat way for students to check their understanding of being able to read a ruler. Because it has a timer function it has enough challenge that it even works for students who have "mastered" the skill. Unfortunately it's not truly UDl friendly as there is no sound, and there is no adaptations for visually impaired students--Mike
*
Tool-Penzu free, Penzu Pro paid version. http://penzu.com/classroom In addition to using Penzu as a self-assessment tool, Penzu has many other functions such as the ability to create and manage journal entries, grade and tag entries, and share with class, manage students, make comments on submitted entries, create and send assignments with due dates etc. What it does lack is the use of audio which I perceive as a barrier. However, I would include an audio tool (online voice recorder) Vocaroo http://vocaroo.com/ as a choice for creating a self-assessment record and feedback. Vocaroo is simple to use( no bells and whistles) and does not require down loading. Marilyn @ Long Island, New York
DCMP is a site that offers educational videos to use in a classroom setting. These videos can be listened to in English and Spanish. The videos can be played using closed captioning, or the video can be described to students. This type of media accommodates a variety of students.
E-readers are another useful device. They allow the user to change the font size and use back lighting for an easier reading experience. Readers also have access to a dictionary. Sometimes when reading a physical book it is easy to skip over words because a dictionary is not easily accessible. E-readers also can read speech aloud. This not only helps those who struggle with reading but also can help teach reading.
-Mac Patrick
VoiceThread is a way to create and share material (text, images, video) and elicit responses from students in a nearly barrier free manner. Students may produce or respond to material in text, video or audio form which offers a lot of options to the way students can become engaged. Sadly, it is not free, but a site license is under $100 a year for a single instructor and students. I am eager to examine the possibilities of how I can adopt it for use in the coming semester. I think it would be a great way to have students collaborate and present on topics while being able to receive feedback.
-Keith @St. Louis
Scriblink is a free (yeah!) whiteboard app that does not need to be downloaded, but has the ability to allow multiple users to share ideas at the same time. A URL of the board can be generated so that the content can be shared. The board can be saved, printed or sent as well. Images can be uploaded to the board and marked on with the various tools. Some key features that this free whiteboard has that others like it do not include the ability to alter the size and color of the font, marker and pen tools for the board. These options make its use less of a barrier to certain individuals. The site provides a phone number that allows users to take part in a conference call while using board. I have not tried this feature, but it seems that this feature allows for yet a few more barriers to be removed for users. I could see this site being useful for engaging students in group work and offering feedback to students.
-Keith
Glogster is a good engagement tool for students. They can acquire the skills to be creators and collaborators. They can create timelines and virtual posters combining text, photos and/or images, audio, video, and writing to explain their thinking, research, etc.
VirtEd is a webpage that provides information that complement the curriculum taught in the traditional educational setting for all students, regardless of disability, geographical location, socioeconomic status, etc.
- Giovanna
Padlet helps students create visually appealing "walls" that allow collaboration, sharing, embedding audio, video and text. I like the example for making a mural, because it highlights a possibility for students teaching others, or demonstrating a step by step process.
~Kim
Remind is a way for teachers to text message students and parents (as a group) without either party seeing actual phone numbers. I haven't used it, but seems like it could help with goal setting, staying on schedule, etc. Students and parents can receive the message by phone or email. Voice clips and images can also be sent. Those that receive the text messages can't reply but they can send feedback that the teacher sees.
~Kim
The tools that I am considering utilizing for engaging my students are Google Hangouts which is a chat feature that allows students to video chat and type. The problem with this is that it does not have closed captioning but students could type what they are saying aloud. This would meet checkpoint 8.3 to assist in fostering collaboration and communication among students. I would like to observe the communication but I also wonder if I was not present would they be more willing to participate? The other tool that I would look at for engagement would be to utilize twiddla. Twiddla is a free whiteboard that allows students to share in real time files, annotations, and chats. Students can write, draw, or use different shapes to communicate with each other. I did not find information on video recording so that would be one feature that might not make the tool barrier free. - Jehana K.
I added this earlier in the week, but it appears that it was accidentally deleted.
I have a couple of free technologies that can help with game-based learning. The first is an example of unabashed self-promotion. My team at Fox Valley Technical College is responsible for the OER Wisc-Online. We have an updated feature called GameBuilder that allows any one to create an account and start building assessment-based games.
https://www.wisc-online.com/gamebuilder
The other is something created by a group housed at UW Madison. The folks at the Games for Learning Society created the ARIS game system. This one is very cool, provided the students have access to a smart phone. In a nutshell, it allows people to load in multimedia files associated with a GPS location. Students can then walk to that location, pull up a phone and access the audio, video, photos, etc. The demo I saw asked students to role-play as a reporter. They were asked to travel to locations around the Capital Building where historical events during a union demonstration. The students would be able to pull up newspaper photos and other files to help them recreate the story.
https://arisgames.org/
- Jay
I used the Raz-Kids website (http://www.raz-kids.com/) for my students to improve their reading ability. This program offers labeled books for the students to read, to be read to or even to record themselves reading. After each book read, students will have the opportunity to interact with the program by participating in questions about the reading and to take short quizzes.
This is a wonderful tool for primary and intermediate students to improve their reading and comprehension abilities, based on their own level of reading to move on to the next level. There are labeled books for the students to choose. It is an interactive reading program; students read the books based on their levels. After they read a selection of books from their level, students take a reading comprehension assessment. Lots of visuals are part of this program for students to increase their comprehension. The program reads to the students, or the students read by pointing to each word to help second language learners with pronunciation and increasing their vocabulary. This program also offers the books in Spanish and English. Students become conscious of their own reading levels, and they are very motivated with their reading progress. Students can listen and record themselves reading.
Patricia
I use the Math online program “That Quiz” (http://www.thatquiz.org/tq/docs/about.html) for assessing my students, replacing paper and pencils. It is free for teachers, and my students really enjoyed playing and learning. It is a site for students to practice math skills and take assessments as well. It gives us information on students’ progress as well as classroom progress.
This site is used for students all over the world at their home and in school. Registration is free, and teachers receive complete record-keeping of students’ grades. There are many different skills that our students can practice using this site, like integers, fractions, concepts and Geometry. This program is available in many languages to accommodate our second language students. The site also gives us the number of times that students practiced the skill, indicates the levels of the students, determines their ability to work independently, and includes a timer and an ability to provide feedback.
Patricia
Devin Monson - One thing we use for our athletes is we have multiple means of allowing them to communicate amongst each other. The first is using Facebook. We create private groups for each of our training programs and have everyone in the groups join. Why fight what is so popular amongst people, embrace it. Facebook is very easy to use and allows for tons of ways for people to communicate be it publicly, in the group, or privately amongst two people.
Devin Monson - The other way we get our athletes all the information they need at their finger tips is with our website. When they sign up, we create an account for them that they can log into at roguerunning.com. Here they have access to every email their coach has and will ever send out. They can also look at the training past, present and future so that they may plan out their weeks/months worth of running. We also save all out files for them on here so that they may look back and see anything we have taught them during the program.